Gwyn Growing Up

I tried to not have too many pictures. Here goes....

I used to send these pictures to Kevin at work.

At the Zoo Lights one winter.

I see this face every time she looks at me like this.

CHEEKS!

The two-handed nap.

"Folding" brothers' laundry.

She still helps me cook almost every night, but now the apron fits her.

Trout Lodge.

An attempt at a family picture at Thanksgiving.

Matching pajamas with her baby.

She had three of those dresses and wore them ALL THE TIME.

The time I made them play in the backyard and two of them cried.

Before Locks Of Love.

After.

Daddy's birthday.

At the zoo in Chicago for Spring Break.

4th birthday.

Getting fancy for family pictures.

Baby Ruby!!!!

Summer dance camp.

Silver Dollar City.

Daddy's Chicago Marathon.

Helping paint the laundry room.

The face of a girl with an awesome brother.

Gwyn Turns 5!

Gwyn is so ready to be 5. She is ready for kindergarten, and being at the same school as her brothers. She is ready to read. (She already reads books to me at night.) She is just ready to be big! And she was so excited for her birthday.

She had two events. The first was Saturday night, where she took two friends to Chuck E. Cheese to play for an hour. Then a quick dinner at McAlister's and a slumber party. (Poor Adeline got sick, so Gwyn gets a make-up slumber party in the near future with her.) The friends were Ashley (whose mom was one of my best friends in high school and whose dad was Kevin's friend in high school) and Evelyn (from her prechool class, and whose mom I happen to work with). Gwyn invited everyone to dress up like superheroes or princesses, and asked that I take some pictures of her in her Super Girl costume. (Which is a hand-me-down from my cousin Emily.)

She is yelling 'Do do do dooo!" the song that introduces superheroes.

Shooting her Merida bow and arrow.

Which of course turned into playing with pictures on my phone.

Not the most terrifying face swap I have had with the kids.

Bumper cars at Chuck E. Cheese. Ashley is the green and pick fairy, Gwyn is Super Girl, and Evelyn is Wonder Woman.

Daddy helped make a fort to sleep in.

Butterfly pancakes for breakfast.

These little feet. She always sits like this! I love it.

And.... face swap.

The next evening we had family over. (We had over 20 people, and the kitchen was amazing! I am so glad we remodeled!) It was a great evening. We had presents, pizza, and then some games inside and in the backyard. I usually put out a few games out on tables in case anyone wants to play. This year I put out Spot It! I had already played it with my Aunt Amy and cousins Rachel and Emily, and we were laughing so hard we cried, and I was hoping it would get played. It did. I loved it. (My brother Jake already bought the game for himself.) Lots of fun yelling. Afterward most people went outside. The kids were on the swings, there was soccer going on, and I finally got to use my ladder golf game. The weather was perfect, and the evening was fun. What more could you ask for?

Ruby climbing stairs! And wearing the cutest purple tennis shoes.

I thought I had a picture of the sign that Colin made for Gwyn. He decided to do it on his own, and it was huge and beautiful! It said Happy Birthday Gwyn! You can see the bottom of it here. I also like that, as usual, present opening involves all 3 kids.

I told everyone this year to sing happy birthday in whatever voice they wanted. I know other people do this and it sounded fun. It was quite silly, and Gwyn was giggling and snuggling. I love it. She usually needs snuggling when we sing happy birthday to her.

Tony (left) and his wife Hannah actually came in town! It was a wonderful surprise. And Jake and his girlfriend Allie also came. (Two on the right.) Here they are playing Spot It with Rachel and Emily.

Some outdoor fun. Colin, Rachel, my cousin Johnny, Gwyneth, and my brother Tony.

Ladder golf game. Me and Aunt Jinda versus my dad and Uncle Bill. (Ladies won!)

It was a wonderful weekend with friends and family!

Easter

We had a fun Easter this year. The kids were very excited to hunt for eggs around the house. In the afternoon we went to Kevin's Aunt Pat's house, where there were more eggs to find and a yummy meal. It is also the last Easter without Kelly and Kev and son Kieran in the US! Kevin's sister Kelly, her husband Kev (I KNOW, right? Kevin!), and their son Kieran are hoping to be stateside by mid-summer. Kelly moved to Australia a few years ago, found a great guy, had an adorable little man (who is on the verge of crawling) and is coming back to the US, new family and all. (The kids got two cousins last year! It was a good year.)

Anyway, after Aunt Pat's we headed to Mother Of Good Council, the home where my grandmother (GGma) and her sister Aunt Fran live. We have most family events there so GGma can attend since she can not travel anymore. (That and it is one of the few places that can host all of us, since there were 45 people there, and about 15 of them are under that age of 15, which means there is room inside and out for the little ones to play in.) There was another meal, and another egg hunt. And we found out that there will be 3 new babies by Thanksgiving!

The days fly by with kids this little, and we don't ever feel like there is time to enjoy everything we want to. (Well, I am sure time stops whenever it is time for me to say good-bye to my family. Kevin says it takes me about 40 minutes.) But the kids had a lot of fun, saw cousins, and got bubbles that they already played with after school today.

Here are a few pictures.

Gwyn wanted a picture with Ruby (the doll) which was left behind in Chicago. Thankfully the Nordgaardens' took good care of her in the meantime.

Yes Gwyn is holding a bunny egg.

I was told by Emily that Gwyn reminds her of Louise Belcher.

Their silly picture. Don't ask me.

One funny moment: Colin went to daddy and said "Is there any way the parents could be the ones giving the candy?" Then paused, and walked away saying "No, that's not possible."

Another non-Easter funny moment: Pappy was making cookies with Gwyn, and he said "When you are the mommy, can I come to your house and make cookies with your kids?" to which Gwyn replied "No, you will be dead by then," and then kept on talking like it was no big deal.

Conferences

The kids all had conferences this week. Gwyn's was Monday, and she had a great report again. She makes her teacher laugh with her sassiness, which makes me nervous, but Mrs. Clayton says that Gwyn is still very respectful, so I still have some time. One story was when she was asked to count, and stopped at 29. Mrs. Clayton asked if she could go higher (Since she went into her 90s last time) and Gwyn pointed at the February calendar and said that it stopped at 29. Mrs. Clayton agreed, but asked again if she could count higher. Gwyn asked "Do I have to?" and was told no, so she said "Then I am not going to." It is better when you hear it from Mrs. Clayton with G's inflection.  As for the boys, they are also doing great. Colin's comprehension scores have grown, and Kevin loves and id doing well in math. Both had good reports on behavior.

In honor of good conferences, all the kids got to pick out a book from the book fair, and then came home to root beer floats!

(I can't believe that Gwyn starts Kindergarten in the fall!) 

Spring Pictures

Look. At. Colin.

"Mom, want to see the bones I dug out of owl vomit?"

OF COURSE Colin said this. And of course I was alarmed. I had no reference for anything as I had just walked in the door Thursday evening after my second night of conferences.My first thought was to ask if he found vomit on the playground. Who did you do this with? What?!?

It turns out that he had an activity on carnivores with his latchkey classes. (Francis Howell calls the program Vacation Station.) The class was studying owls, and were looking at bones from animals that they owls had eaten. I have no idea if he actually looked through owl vomit. I don't really want to ask.

He was so proud to show the bones off. He told me about one was a mouse jaw, and there were some ribs and leg bones as well. He talked to me for about 10 minutes about these bones. How awesome is it that he got to do this!?